FURIOUS Everton fans today (Thursday) demanded an apology from the club after being locked out of Goodison Park.

FURIOUS Everton fans today demanded an apology from the club after being locked out of Goodison Park.

More than 2,000 supporters missed last night's Carling Cup clash with Preston after safety regulations forced the club to reduce the capacity.

Everton today defended their decision - but fans say they should have been given more warning.

Damien Cummings, 38, a scaffolder from Warbreck Moor, said: "My 13-year-old son was locked in the ground and I was not allowed to get in to see him.

"Once the announcement went out I had to convince Merseyside police to escort me to see my son, and let me speak to him to let him know everything was okay. Then I was made to leave."

The start of the game, which Everton won 2-0, was delayed by 10 minutes because of congestion as more than 22,000 fans turned up in the 90 minutes before kick-off to pay on the turnstiles.

The club insist they had to close the doors because safety regulations dictated that the capacity had to be reduced after the club made the decision to sell tickets for unreserved seating.

Ian Ross, the club's head of communications, said: "Our capacity for the game was reduced to 34,000 after making the decision three weeks ago to have unreserved seating.

"When you do that you have to apply for a special safety certificate from the local authority and they insist capacity is reduced by 10%.

As a club, we made the decision to reduce it by a further five per cent for safety reasons.

"It is desperately disappointing when you have to turn people away, but we had no option."

The club had put out public messages warning people to come early.

But season ticket-holder Tony Redfern, 41, originally from Sterrix Lane, Bootle, said: "I made a 300-mile round trip from Rugby, only to stand in the rain for 45 minutes then to be told I couldn't get in."

Martin Reppion, 42, a recruitment company manager, from Keighley, West Yorkshire, said: "We demand an apology and an assurance never again will an Everton supporter be locked out."